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26 December 2009

Santa visits London

ITS CHRISTMAS! Crazy to think that this time last year we were in Australia preparing to leave. It has just gone so fast. Its also crazy to think how many places we have been and all the amazing things we have seen in just 12 months. But anyway, on with the show...

We have been getting right into the festive spirit. Its actually really easy to do; we are experiencing the Christmas you see on TV. Its been SNOWING! Such I novelty for us – having never lived in a city where it has snowed before. The lights and Christmas markets are amazing. Only one problem – its freezing!

Rochelle has put up a small Christmas tree at home, with nice lights. We have hung our stockings, waiting for Santa to fill them up with all sorts of cool stuff. Rochelle recieved a stack of presents from all her workmates - nice chocolate, wine etc... I received a Christmas card from my work mate Mel... But hey, I didn't buy my workmates anything so can't complain. And it was a very nice card :) (Apparently she just had lots left over so decided to give me one!)

A couple of weeks ago I had my work christmas party. It was a lot of fun! Plenty of good food, good people, alcohol... Secret santa was really funny - I got an extremely stylish tie. Things got a bit rawkus toward the end - headbanging to Rage Against the Machine and way too many shots. All in all, a good night. Everyone was a bit slow the next day at work.

Last weekend we went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. I expected a really cool market with a skating rink – it was more like a huge amusement park. I couldn’t believe it! It was like Dreamworld – but freezing and with lots of German sausage. We wandered around, drank hot chocolate and looked at all the interesting stalls, watched the nutters going on crazy rides. There was a huge viewing ‘wheel’ – very impressive. We also spent some time watching people try to skate, trip, then pull their friends down with them. Great free entertainment!

I found it hard to believe, but the whole of London shuts down on Christmas day - no transport - nothing! We had planned to spend Christmas day with Rochelles brother Malcolm and his wife Sharne. To do this we had to go Christmas eve and come back home Boxing day. All our presents from my parents and to each other were far too big to carry to Malcolm and Sharne's, so we decided to have a mini-Christmas on the 24th. It was lots of fun! Rochelle got a fish tank! She was so excited. I got a bath robe and some slippers. We also got some nice socks and other bits and pieces from my parents. Later that evening we headed over to Malcolm and Sharnes. We had a spent the evening having a couple of drinks and sat watching TV and chatting.

Christmas Morning brought lots of presents and calls home to the family. Malcolm's gift from Sharne provided the entertainment for the rest of the day - a Wii! Rochelle got some nice cosmetics and a H&M voucher, I got a Paddington Bear mug and a Maplin voucher, we got Malcom and Sharne a nice hamper and some good NZ beer. We had a HUGE lunch/dunner - we all ate way too much, but it was all soo good. In the afternoon we drank champagne and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Good fun :) We then played Wii into the evening.

Boxing day we caught up with Shaun and Sarah. They are actually leaving for the States on the 28th - on their way home to NZ. We gave and received some gifts - Shaun got a mankini! Sarah got the Hoff's latest CD, Rochelle got a nice mug with nice hot chocolate, and I got a Top Gear model building kit :) Awesome! So we said our goodbyes as it is the last time we are going to see each other for a year or more!

A quick side note - our blog has just turned one! This will be my 66th post, so not a bad track record. Its grown and changed quite a lot on the year, having gone from recieving one or two visitors per day to around 30, which is still tiny, but good things take time. I look forward to another year of telling you about our adventures :)

5 comments:

It sounds like you have been VERY busy for the holidays so hopefully things will settle down a little and you can relax your way nto 2010. I think it would be so much fun to spend the holidays in London. To me, watching the new year rol in from the streets of Picadilly Circus would be so cool. I wonder if it is as outrageous as Times Square when the ball drops? Anyway, enjoy your holiday and thanks for taking me down memory lane a little!

Being a hardy Scots loon from the North East of Scotland I have been surprised at how mild the winter weather is in London. I wish I had went home for Xmas because they have had the most snow for over 20 years, that would have been such good fun.

I can't believe your blog is only a year old! You've done such a great job that I had thought it was an "old, established blog" when I first came across it about 6 months ago. I just loooovee you photos of Winter Wonderland. I didn't get a chance to see any of the winter carnivals and ice rinks this year (or the previous years as we usually go up to Liverpool) so I will definitely go take a look at the end of 2011. This December, we'll be in South Africa. Yay!